Isolation of induced mutants in Ethiopian mustard (Brassica carinata Braun) with low levels of erucic acid

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Abstract
Ethiopian mustard (Brassica carinata Braun) is a potential oil crop for the rain‐fed Mediterranean area. However, its usage is limited by the high erucic and high glucosinolate content of the oil and meal, respectively. In the course of a mutagenesis programme, an agronomically good line of Ethiopian mustard was treated with EMS in order to widen the natural variability of nutritional traits in this species. As a result of this programme several low erucic mutants were isolated; two of these mutants showed erucic acid values in the M4 generation in the range 5–10% of total fatty acids. Near‐infrared reflectance spectroscopy (N1RS) was successfully applied as a rapid screening method for erucic acid in this breeding programme.